subject: A Review Of The 50 Inch Panasonic TX-P50S20 [print this page] The Viera TXP50S20B is Panasonic's latest plasma TV, bridging the gap between the X20 and G20 sets. It combines a low price with some useful features to make it competitive with similar-price plasma and LCD sets.
The big news for the Panasonic Viera TXP50S20B is its inclusion of a Freeview HD tuner. This is the first set offered by Panasonic compatible with this new terrestrial service. Today, Freeview only broadcasts are available from BBC HD and parts of ITV in HD, with Channel 4 to be added to the lineup sometime soon. The service won't be available nation-wide until 2012, although some areas received broadcasts as early as 2008. If you aren't sure if you can get Freeview HD yet, check out http://www.freeview.co.uk/availability/main/indexhd/
The TXP50S20B's 50" screen manages an impressive 2,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. Like other slim TVs, audio is limited to two small speakers producing 10 watts a piece, but the sound quality is still very good. The TV only supports PAL and DVB-T/T2 digital video.
The NeoPDP technology in this set isn't the latest version used on Panasonic's high end TVs, but it still brings a major improvement in image quality over their previous low end sets. Along with visual improvements, this decreases power consumption to a low 201 watts, putting it in range of LCD TVs.
Most of the ports are located on the back, making stand mounting difficult, although composite audio and video as well as an HDMI port are side-mounted for easy connection with game systems. The back holds an two more HDMI ports as well as plugs for SCART, optical video out, and RCA video and audio inputs. Oddly, there is no Internet support, but AVCHD, SD-VIDEO, and JPEG files can be viewed using an SD memory card slot. Parents will appreciate the fingerprint-proof textured bezel.
The Panasonic TX-P50S20's quoted 600Hz refresh rate isn't true frame-by-frame refresh. Panasonic's Intelligent Frame Creation refreshes only parts of the screen displaying motion between actual frame refreshes. With PAL broadcasts at 50Hz (frames per second,) the Panasonic TX-P50S20B can redraw parts of each frame ten times, and the entire frame twice for a total of 600Hz. A cinema-quality 24Hz mode is also offered, but most users will prefer the smoother 600Hz mode. Each redraw takes 0.001ms, nearly two hundred times faster than even the best LCD screen.
The Resolution Enhancer doesn't scale up standard definition broadcasts as dramatically as other TVs, but it also doesn't have the visual noise problems inherent in competitors' designs. However, colour quality is poor in SD mode, a problem that isn't present in HD modes.
The low power consumption makes the TXP50S20B a serious contender for those looking at low-end LCD sets as well as plasma TVs. HD video quality is excellent for this price range, and the Freeview HD tuner will let you enjoy HD without satellite service. However, if you still have to wait a couple years for Freeview to come to your area or you want to watch Internet videos, the TXP50S20B probably isn't for you.
